In 1994, the scholar and bibliophile Federico Macchi took a survey of the old, decorative bookbindings housed at the Milan-based
Brera Library. With the assistance of a few members of the Library's staff (Special thanks go to Mr Aldo Coletto), Mr Macchi reported on
about 3,000 bindings of interest and wrote a detailed description of them. An initial batch of bindings with prototype index cards were
converted into digital form in colour, as part of a module of the project,
DI.RE. (DI.gital RE.covery) carried out by Mr Guido Mura. The images and the texts processed were recorded on CD-R. Some time later,
a remarkable selection of bindings from the 15th and 16th centuries were chosen for an exhibition to be staged at the Brera Library. The
event, entitled "The Art of Binding Books Through the 15th and 16th Centuries", was scheduled from April 18th through June 22, 2002. To
view the web version of the exhibition, please click on the icons below representing the sections into which the virtual exhibition
unfolds.

Fair use of image files of this website for non-commercial educational purposes is permitted. Anyone wishing to use
any of these files for commercial use must comply with the Italian copyright law. Prior written permission must be requested and
received from the Brera
Library. Please fill in the form (No 24) and fax it to the Library's Manager,
as follows: Direttore Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, on +39-2-72023910. Copies of the original
TIFF-format image files can be obtained from the Library, either in full-sized format (ranging from 70 MB-240 MB per image) or
resized on request.
Please demand to: info@braidense.it (Via E-Mail)
+039-02-72023910: (Via Fax)
Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, via Brera 28 - 20121 - Milano. Per posta:
The exhibition catalogue: Arte della legatura a Brera is currently sold out.